Edward Lee Block

Edward Lee Block passed away peacefully, surrounded by family and friends, on February 7th, at the age of 83. Eddie was born on January 3rd, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas, to Becky and Ed Block. He graduated from Alamo Heights High School and University of Oklahoma at Norman where he pledged Pi Lamda Phi and made lifelong friends.

Eddie's father, Ed Block, founded Block Distributing Company in San Antonio in 1939. Eddie began his career working at Franchise Liquors in Denver and then returned to San Antonio to work side by side with his father. For 17 years, Eddie served as the president of Block Distributing which created a cohort of exceptional talent that stayed together as friends and colleagues for decades. Eddie was vice-chairman of its next iteration, Republic Beverage Company, and on the Board of Directors of its current incarnation, Republic National Distributing Company. With over 50 years of leadership in the industry, he helped steward the company's transformation from a regional wholesaler to the second largest distributorship in the country.

Eddie was humbled to be inducted into the Texas Business Hall of Fame in 2023. Additionally, he served on the boards of several industry organizations and was awarded the American Beverage Licensees' Top Shelf Award for his professional excellence and community impact. As a member of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the area's Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Eddie helped improve the business community of San Antonio, his beloved city. Eddie supported medical research, the arts, and Jewish causes, including the San Antonio Area Foundation, Jewish Federation of San Antonio, the United Way Tocqueville Society, the McNay Art Museum, the University of Texas Health Science Center and, as a cancer survivor himself, the Cancer Therapy & Research Center of San Antonio and especially the Bladder Cancer Research Program at Baylor College of Medicine.

Eddie's love of sports spanned exchanging volleys with Federer to watching late-night bowling championships on ESPN. Eddie was an avid tennis player, college ping-pong champion, and a proficient poker and craps player. He was known to frequent Vegas and enjoyed visiting his favorite cities: Paris, San Francisco and New York.

Eddie is survived by his two devoted daughters, Stephanie and Corey Block; his beloved grandson, Neville; his loving sister, Barbara Dreeben; adored nieces, Lisa, Allison and Paige and their loving families.

The Block family expresses deep gratitude to the many exceptional, kind, dedicated souls at Family Tree Private Care and Bloom Healthcare for caring so deeply for Eddie.

A Memorial Service will take place at 2:30 PM on February 10, 2026 at Temple Beth-El in the Wulfe Sanctuary (211 Belknap Place). A reception will follow beginning at 4:00 PM at The Argyle (934 Patterson Avenue).

For those unable to attend, please click here to view a livestream of the service: https://s3-us-east-2.amazonaws.com/mf-fwp/tbe/memorial_20260210.html

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Baylor College of Medicine Bladder Cancer Multidisciplinary Translational Research Program headed by Dr. Seth Lerner: (https://secure.givebcm.org/site/Donation2?idb=%5B%5BS76:idb%5D%5D&df_id=7240&7240.donation=form1&mfc_pref=T) or a San Antonio organization of your choice.